Thakoon Tries Out Menswear

No rest for the working man. Thakoon Panichgul had hardly put his feral new women’s collection to bed than he was back on the scene: The designer debuted his first men’s item, a cardigan collaboration with (and available exclusively at) New York- and Hawaii-based retailer Aloha Rag. Rag owner Tatsugo Yoda approached Panichgul after reading some kind words the designer had about an AR cardigan and ended up—a few lunches later, of course—with a Thakoon version of his own. The plaid-printed cotton-cashmere blend is available in two colors (a lumberjack red and a more muted, slate-ish gray/green) and picks up menswear details like the notched collar. “I kind of have a uniform—I wear cardigans and plaid shirts,” said the designer, wearing, yes, a cardigan over a plaid shirt. And so he combined the two. Is this, we wondered, a first step in the direction of menswear? Panichgul gave a qualified nod, noting that he wanted to fully develop the story behind a menswear line before embarking on it. In that case, let’s go ahead and call this cardie Chapter One.

Thakoon x Aloha Rag cardigan, 5, available at Aloha Rag, 505 Greenwich St., NYC, (212) 925-0882, www.aloharag.com.